Microsoft inks agreement with Aha

Microsoft today signed a definitive
agreement to acquire Aha Software, a
vendor of electronic-ink messaging, note-taking, and editing
software for handheld computers.

9 April 19966:00 am AEST

Microsoft today signed a definitive
agreement to acquire Aha Software, a
vendor of electronic-ink messaging, note-taking, and editing
software for handheld computers.

The terms of the agreement were not announced.

Aha Software, founded in 1991, developed the patent-pending SmartInk
technology that lets users manipulate handwritten text entered into a
handheld computer the same way that they do typewritten text, for example,
cutting and pasting text. The technology is intended to eliminate the need
for handwriting recognition software, which is widely available but still
the subject of consistent user complaints about unrelability. Aha now uses
SmartInk in its $129 InkWriter package

Microsoft officials say the company will implement Aha's software into
future technologies but did not specify any product plans.